Choi Jun-yong (23), the national bullpen pitcher of the Lotte Giants, will no longer be able to see a cool and straightforward ball this season.
Lotte announced on the 4th that “Choi Jun-yong will undergo shoulder joint surgery on his right shoulder on the 6th.” According to Lotte, the season out has been confirmed as the rehabilitation period is scheduled to take about four months.
Choi Jun-yong, who joined Lotte as the first draft pick of the 2020 rookie draft, showed his potential by pitching in 31 games from his first year of his debut with a 4.85 ERA with two losses and eight holds.
In 2021, in his second year, he ranked second in the Rookie of the Year vote with an outstanding 4 wins, 2 losses, 1 save, 20 holds, and an ERA of 2.85 in 44 games. Choi Jun-yong faithfully played a key role in Lotte’s bullpen in 2022 (3 wins, 4 losses, 14 saves, 6 holds, ERA of 4.06) and 2023 (2 wins, 3 losses, 14 holds, ERA of 2.45 in 47 games).
All of these results, however, were achieved with shoulder pain. “Choi Jun-yong has been injected and physically treated for several years due to constant shoulder pain since joining the club, but it did not have much effect,” Lotte said. “The player himself was under a lot of stress due to the pain.”
Choi, who had been under increasing pressure after throwing the ball in pain for a long time, was actually thinking about his future as a batter at last year’s wrap-up camp. After a short hiatus, Choi has decided to focus on pitching.
Choi Jun-yong, who was selected for the Asian Professional Baseball Championship (APBC) national team held in November last year, pitched more than 150km/h in the match against Korea and Japan, playing two scoreless ⅓ in two games.
Choi Jun-yong played as a “Team Korea” member in a game against the San Diego Padres in March this year and struck out Manny Machado, a “350 million dollar man” (about 476.5 billion won) man, with all 12 pitches thrown as fastballs, allowing one strikeout and no run in one inning. Machado, who was struck out by Choi Jun-yong, was surprised by his outstanding pitching, saying, “The ball comes from the ground.”
In the early days of the 2024 season, Choi gained momentum after recharging his confidence. Through April, he cruised through 15 games with one loss and three holds and an ERA of 2.87 and played an indispensable role in Lotte’s bullpen. However, he has been mired in slump with 12 games with one win and one loss and an ERA of 12.00 since May. He returned after a period of recharging, but nothing much changed.
Choi Jun-yong, who was removed from the first-team entry on June 3, will end this season with a record of one win, two losses and three holds with a 5.40 ERA in 27 games. Lotte explained, “We decided to play through rehabilitation such as injection and physical therapy, but we decided that we needed surgical treatment for the future of the player.” 토토사이트